Post Pagination

Mugabe predicted to win one year before elections

University of Zimbabwe research fellow Brian Raftopoulos, described by the United States embassy as one of Zimbabwe’s best thinkers with an uncanny knack for predicting events that come to pass, said President Robert Mugabe was going to win the 2002 presidential elections which were more than a year away but this would be an illegitimate election.

Raftopoulos said President Mugabe did not have the support to win a free and fair election, so he was going to achieve victory “by any means necessary”.

He said ZANU-PF’s tactics of intimidation and harassment would make it extremely difficult for the MDC to develop slowly and patiently into a genuine, mature and effective opposition party.

The MDC did not have the resources either to confront head-on state-sponsored violence or to contest effectively numerous by-elections so the party had to focus its campaign strategy on the election mechanics, particularly getting its supporters to register and to ensure that the voters’ roll was compiled in a transparent and accurate manner.

The MDC also had to work hard to mobilise older rural voters, who had historically voted overwhelmingly for ZANU-PF.

Post Pagination

Like it? Share with your friends!

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.